


Sun and Moon

by MercurialDewdrop



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: ... kind of, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Autistic character - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Color Blindness, Friendship-centric, Gen, Reader-Insert, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2020-05-14 11:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19272577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurialDewdrop/pseuds/MercurialDewdrop
Summary: You are Tsuna’s best friend, it could even be said you’re the only he has (and vice versa) since elementary school.Alternatively titled:This is my life, but my best friend is the protagonist.





	1. Plain and simple, you and I.

Life in Namimori, you think, is comparable to a compassionate state of limbo; all disguised as an out-of-the-way city lookalike in the middle of nowhere.

The adults were simple-minded in the best way, well-meaning gossipers and humble family stores. It was a sleepy city reminiscent of a town in the way everyone at least heard of each other. Headlines in newspapers were mostly about technological advances in the world and, oddly enough, weather patterns around the sphere.

This was the sort of place, you slowly realized over time, where the rich were most likely to buy a vacation house. It explained the overabundance of western-oriented shops that were commonplace here, but none of the ads on TV channels seemed to take advantage of.

You had no problem with this.

The kids were something else though. You gave the ongoing crowd of wrinkled, white button-ups and black slacks a hard stare from your spot by the corner wall. It was a mystery why they were are they all so…

…

…

With a sigh, you gave up after several minutes of trying to find the ever elusive word that you have searched for years yet again, else you might end up nursing a migraine for half the day.

Never has it been so difficult to describe something as off-putting as the collective subconscious that were the teenagers of Namimori. Every day since elementary school, odd occurrences kept acting up; from the prodigy at baseball with a cheerful grin but eerily sharp eyes no one seemed to find creepy (or notice at all), to the wild, destructive older classmen duo who never stopped fighting, to the strange obsession the overall alumni had with idols.

(In your late elementary days you realized that was more of a Japan thing you weren’t quite aware of, because of your severe lack of interest in TV to the exception of Featherman Rider, but your point still stood. Idol personalities were one thing, kids rumoring about other kids as if the school was a beauty pageant was just… Ugly.)

'Demon Prefect', 'Baseball star', 'School angel', 'No-good Tsuna'. All of these titles were nonsensical and silly to you. All but the last one, the last one was rude more so than just ‘silly’, but it still held the melodramatic theme Namimori upheld like a tradition. They never sat quite right with you, always in the back of your mind like a rock in your shoe, or a splinter caught in your sock.

The bell rang.

The shrill tone signified the start of classes and a countdown of a narrow five-minute mark until Hibari came to deliver punishment. You tried to slow down your frantic heartbeat and the sense of dread the thought of Hibari Kyouya chasing you down with no easy success. Eventually, you manage, but time was still running.

Another look around and you see students rushing to their classrooms, silent from all but a handful of curses and hurried footsteps. A barely-there shriek has you turning away from the masses, smile well on its way as you spot a bedhead of uncoordinated spikes approaching.

Your best friend's impressive set of lungs fail him just about as he reaches for-- grapples for, really -- onto your awaiting extended arm. His wheezing fit turns into a shriek once more as you give him half a spin like a mediocre scene of shoujo manga, before letting go of his hand just as abruptly. Tsuna braces himself against the wall with a hack as you try not to laugh at him.

"Why do you always _do that..._ " He sobs to the wall.

You shrug, plucking away a curl from your bangs that was in the way. There’s no time to explain to Tsuna the intricacies of centrifugal force, so instead, you give him a moment of respite before inspiring the fear of Namimori's not-quite deity onto him, telling him that according to your wristwatch it's been three minutes already.

He doesn't make that fun screech of his again but instead takes on a sick complexion that makes his freckles stand out. This time he’s the one who drags you away into the building, sweaty hand around your shaking wrist, your body still trembling with the force of holding the laughter back.

The two of you aren’t on time for the first lecture, but at least manage to avoid Hibari by the strategic use of taking a bathroom break for the entirety of the first period.

"I could’ve stayed in bed..." Tsuna mourns rather loudly from his spot at the stall next door.

Well, at the end of the morning, he did not stay in bed. Which was what got them where they were in the first place. You tell him that.

"We didn't even _get_ to class!" He barks back. You can hear him sulking all the way over from your seat.

If you weren’t at the entryway, you knew he would have skipped the entire day.

"We aren't even doing _anything!_ " Tsuna continues wailing as if he heard your thoughts. Knowing his occasional streak of sass, he probably guessed it was something along those lines.

Finally, you remind him amidst his fit of despair that Hibari did _not_ act alone. He’s the _head_ of the Disciplinary Committee.

Then there’s that sweet, vindictive silence.

* * *

  _"Again? Wow, can’t even pull his own weight."_

_“You’d think [-X-X-X] would stop dragging him here.”_

_“Yeah, just let him **sink** -_ ”

* * *

Classes went as per usual once both of you got out of the bathroom, barely slipping inside in time as your Homeroom and Math teachers changed places. You nudge Tsuna to wave back at his crush, who spotted you waving after her faithful companion beside her pointed you out.

“She even smiled and everything.” You stage a fake-whisper to him on the way to the window seats. Tsuna, predictably, glares feebly back at you and lights up like a flame, but doesn't say anything in fear of making a scene.

The highlight of your day comes in the shape of poking at Tsuna’s back through classes to keep him awake, you make little cat doodles on his blazer to pass the time. He grumbles more often than not but gets a few scribbles on his notebook through each lecture. You still take a few notes here and there, more for his benefit than your own, in hopes later on your study sessions things won’t be as dire nearing finals week.

On recess, you had to change your lunch spot from the stairs to somewhere behind the gym building to avoid bumping into Hibari. No one’s usually there, but it's close enough to notice when the chatter of lunch dies down and it’s time to leave again. There was no way he'd pay enough attention to two students skipping the first period to go after you, but the unanimous decision was better to be safe than beaten to a pulp.

In place of the head disciplinarian, you had an encounter with Kyoko Sasagawa on the way downstairs, the school's sweetheart and Tsuna's aforementioned crush, and therefore had a standstill stare contest with one Hana Kurokawa. It was your duty to keep your awkward best friend from becoming a stuttering mess, and thus declined their invitation to have lunch together.

Kurokawa gave both of you a rendition of her disdainful sneer as you dragged Tsuna away, while Sasagawa looked slightly disappointed in a way you couldn’t tell if she was just being polite or not. The walk to your spot gives Tsuna's brain just enough time to regress from a gooey pot of honey from swooning over the girl of his dreams.

He still has a faraway look on his eyes when he gets his lunch out of his bag. You immediately notice Tsuna’s mother gave him two bento again, so you waste no time in whisking your portion away from his hands.

“Thank you!” You chirp, tugging your chopsticks open.

Your amusement starts its daily trek up mountains as he haunches over his own food, as if you were to take it too if given the opportunity. Not a bad move, you concede. You might start picking off from his bento if your stomach so demanded it.

“What if it wasn’t even yours?” He grumbles, wearing a frown as if it was enough to dissuade your appetite.

Up to the mountains, the entertainment continues, climbing a beanstalk to the skies for greater heights. “You don’t eat that much, _Tsuna._ ” You tease, swishing a tako sausage from your box in front of him like a pendulum, before popping it inside your mouth.

“I-I’m still growing!” He refutes with just as much force as a wallflower. His face turns a darker hue before spitting a hasty ‘freeloader’ at you, as if the quicker it was out of his mouth the less time you would have to react to it, and then ducks hastily to pick at his lunch.

 _I pay you back with my **presence**_ **.** You fire back in your mind. It’s a thought without malice, but you still hold it back. You know his self-esteem is a fragile thing, even after all these years of trying to get him to grow a backbone. You smile at him instead, carefully sidelining the spark of pride blooming inside your chest and the gentle urge to encourage him. With your abysmal conversational skills, it'd sound too condescending, like you were praising a dog or something equally as demeaning when you sincerely meant it. “You sure? the only thing I see growing from over here is your hair, Tsunayoshi.”

Tsuna squints down at his bento, and then vehemently tries to ignore you for the rest of the meal.

Entertainment dies down after that. You go to class again, take notes, and think briefly of joining some sort of extracurricular before shrugging it away. Tsuna wouldn’t want to unless it was some sort of geek club, and so it’d cut your time to hang out. You fall to match his pace on the walk back to his house, watching as the lazy clouds pass by.

There’s a flicker from your side vision, the bright flames surrounding him like a blanket picking up a slightly different rhythm than usual. You can't tell if he’s troubled or thoughtful, either way, it doesn’t bode well. It doesn’t take long for him to speak.

“Hey,” he begins and doesn’t even bother pretending to be startled when his eyes meet yours. Maybe you had been too obvious with your staring, but what’s surprising about this, however, is the fact he doesn’t look away this time. It only happens for a moment, but his eyes meet yours long enough to see a flash of something you can't quite recognize.

That's definitively odd, you muse, feeling curiosity already taking hold of you as you try to get a better look at his face. Whatever look was on his face before was gone now, but what's clear as day was his hesitation to tell you something. You lean forward, and Tsuna doesn't step back but he does look away from you.

“Wasn’t today…" Tsuna says, clearing his throat and looking at you head-on for a second time, as if trying to communicate some sort of message by expression alone. It's not a talent of yours to read minds, certainly, but you do know him best out of anyone.

All you see is him grasping at straws, so you don't say anything back and let him sit on it.

He deflates, shoulders drooping "Something feels off, is all." Is what he settles for, at the end.

The snail-like pace you two had been walking comes to a stop and he follows suit. Thinking back on the day, nothing struck you as different, but by now you have keyed on the fact that Tsuna was better at telling when something fell on the weirdness-o-meter between the two of you. If today was a boring day…

“It was quiet,” you agree with some caution, the little hamster inside its cage picking up the pace. “And other than escaping Hibari-” you halt, throat suddenly parched. By now he probably had the attendance records. He knew you didn't attend class.

Tsuna catches on, paling an accurate grey along with the monochromatic background. The flames follow to match in a similarly hurried tandem.

“Tomorrow won’t be a good day. Not a good day at all.” You shrug with ease you have no business even trying to emulate.

Tsuna winces right after, he isn't fooled either. “Maybe… We can skip it?” He suggests.

Either way, you’d be punished, it was a matter of how long you wanted to delay it. There really wasn’t much of a choice.

“You know what, Tsuna? That’s a great idea.” You lie through your teeth and Tsuna cracks a smile. “Let’s do that.” You say.

“...D-do you want to sleep over?”

That at least, makes you smile for real. 

“We can do that too.”

* * *

Nana’s welcoming smile washes away some of the impending doom looming over your heads for a bit. You eat her amazing cooking tonight and show off to your parents by sending as much of a stylish photo as you could with the crappy camera on your slide phone. Your father sends back an 'OK' and you snap your phone shut.

There’s something particular about tonight that makes it feel like the calm before the storm. Like this might be the last day you might be able to have such a casual sleepover like this.

For old times sake, you race Tsuna up to his room and snatch away the first controller to beat him at Alleyway Fisticuffs III.

You win once by shoving him away on a crucial combo and then he bodies you for the rest of the matches.

* * *

_Tonight you were having your first sleepover._

_It began as one of your special hangouts, where the planets aligned and Sawada's mother managed to placate her skittish son enough to invite you inside. This time you remembered your house phone correctly, so your parents let you stay with a reminder to call on the morning right after saying the magical word that was 'sleepover'._

_You ate dinner with them. It tasted just a little better than the take-out at home; you didn’t eat much because miss Sawada was staring and prompting conversation the whole time._

_Sometimes when you came by, Sawada let you look at his manga, always anxiously awaiting a verdict. He read slice of life and bishounen hop. He always got flustered you got upstairs first and turned on the last game on his console too, it was usually a fighting game or a dating sim. Everything was so new to you that there wasn’t much you could say other than they were ‘okay’ or ‘interesting’._

_This time you were on his balcony because out of the million things you read on the internet, stargazing was one of the few that didn't involve make-up or ghost stories or some game that didn't involve more than two people. Now the both of you were sitting on the floor and looking outside._

_You couldn’t think of much to say, the air was warm and the sky mesmerizing-- it was making you sleepy. You liked the nighttime best._

_(Daytime was okay, but the sun was too bright to look at the sky. The moon always shone in a way that didn’t hurt your eyes, lukewarm and soothing. The night sky both terrified and dazed you, it looked like you could get sucked in with the stars at any moment if you looked at it for too long.)_

_Quiet as creaking glass, Sawada cleared his throat. You turned to find him looking just as lonely as you had first found him huddled under a tree at the schoolyard. Sawada was folding into himself, tense as a coiled spring. It gave you the impression he was bracing himself for something._

_"Why are you friends with me?" He mumbled to his knees._

_A chill ran down your spine despite the summer air. I don’t know. Was the immediate response you didn’t answer in a tacit moment of sensibility, suddenly alarmed to find that words were failing you again. You were wise enough not to mention it crossed your mind and instead tried for a smile._

_It felt like bending plastic._

_“You're a good person, Sawada." You eventually mumbled back, and bit your tongue from saying any more. He didn’t move._

_In the time it took you to answer, Sawada had retreated further into himself, forcing you to look away. You wouldn’t want to be seen so vulnerable, so you figured neither would he. "I'm not good at anything, I’m dumb and clumsy and--" he whispered, voice fading away the further he went on. There was a moment where he looked like he was going to say more, but all he could choke out was a hiccup._

_There should have been words you could have said to make him feel better, there must have been, and yet none came to you. No pep talk because despite the months you’ve been friends with him, it hasn’t been long enough to know him well, no magic words of friendship because you’ve always been lacking on social points. All you knew was that he had to be wrong somewhere, but you didn’t understand where either. He wasn’t that smart, and he could barely walk straight most days with that haunched back of his. He was right more than he was wrong._

_Sawada's also your only friend._

_You watched the stars twinkle, uncomfortable in your own skin like every time you were faced with yet another forced conversation. You couldn't avoid this one though, you didn't want to, you wanted to reassure him. Why couldn’t you?_

_Silence slowly trickled by._

_Once it became clear that your mind was conspiring against both of you, you decided that a simple answer is better than none, even if it wasn’t the one he deserved. “Lonely.” You managed to piece together. “I was lonely, we both were.” You admitted slowly. A part of you wished he wasn’t close enough to hear._

_You heard the shuffle of his shoes against the floor. "Oh." It hurt a little how nonchalant he sounded. There was nothing to gauge out of it, nothing to tell you if it was the right or the wrong thing to say._

_At that moment, fear made your heart skip a beat. Tsunayoshi Sawada was your friend, the only friend that you had, but even for him, you couldn’t lie for. He deserved better than that, better than you, and better than this... But you didn’t want to lie._

_Honesty was all you had to offer, it was all you knew. You always had the bad luck of your gut talking before thinking things through, so you continued on; even if it felt like walking barefoot on quicksand. No matter which way you walked, it’d drag you deeper down._

_"Whenever I'm alone, I feel really bad and start thinking of things that scare me a little… Like something’s wrong with me.”_

_ (Don’t be so cold dear, they’re just trying to make conversation, won’t you talk with them? _  
_Won't you smile? Come on, don't be so shy._   
_ Say something! People are going to think you're mute. _  
_ It’s rude to stare, X-X-X. You’re making me look bad.) _

_Your fingers curled into your palm, and this time it was you who hid away. “You help, even... Even if you don't know how, and um," You fumbled midway trying to explain, and a soon as you stuttered your mouth clamped down like it was glued shut out of sheer mortification. It didn't matter how comfortable the night air was before, now it had a biting chill to it and all you could think- all you could feel was humiliation burning your face and clogging your throat._

_You didn’t think he’d understand if you explained anymore, not after how badly you screwed up. you didn't think you could explain even if you wanted to._

_You heard him shuffle closer, but didn't want to look. "I'm... Helping you?" He sniffed, hacked a bit, and overall didn’t sound as embarrassed as he should be for how awed he was coming off with that sentence of his. That’s okay, you could feel embarrassed for the both of you, your cheeks certainly thought so. Why did he sound so amazed?_

_"Yeah.” You scrubbed your face and sniffed a little to hold the worst of the itch back. “I don't feel lonely with you around, Sawada.”_

_Somehow, terrible friend as you were, when you looked up you saw Sawada smiling. Big and wobbly, with snot leaking from his nose and teary-eyed, but he was smiling like you just gave him every New Years present he ever asked for. "T-Tsuna is okay..." He whispered, moving close enough to bump his knees onto yours. It almost felt like a hug. "If we're friends, you can call me Tsuna."_

_In that moment you realized hope felt a lot like the stars up high. Tiny but so, so incredibly bright._

_"Okay. You can call me X-X-X too."_

_This time you didn't notice you were smiling until he hugged you so tight it ended with the both of you flat on the floor._

_Laughing, smiling..._

_That was the first time it ever felt so free._


	2. Your stars, our orbit.

_It was Mother’s day._

_You hadn’t found the chance to ask her if she celebrated it. Sending a message seemed like cheating to you, and your father never put much thought into holidays, so you were left with a nervous feeling in your gut and a handful of wildflowers withering by the minute._

_Tsunayoshi sat ways beside you, fully concentrating into his attempt at a flower crown, tongue sticking out in that funny way of his. He was the one who suggested the idea._

_"Hey, Sawada?" You start and call his name, the surname registers a moment too late in your brain to switch it for his first name, as you had agreed not long ago. It might be the tenth time today, might have been some more, but it was okay because it wasn’t only you who is messing up. Sometimes he flips your last name too.  
_

_He makes a noise with his throat, so you guess that means he’s listening. You’re fairly sure that’s your cue to continue, but the forceful way Tsuna was trying to stick grass together drew your attention away. It was obvious he didn’t know what he was doing._

_You didn’t either, but had more confidence that between the two of you, you could do better._

_So you plopped down next to him. He looked up when you grabbed the other end of the line, Tsuna let go when you tugged it away, so you carefully thread the grass strands together._

_By the time you were done knotting a wobbly, thin circle, Tsuna had cheered up significantly. He set off looking for thicker pieces to tie together._

_It was when he had his back to you, that you chose to continue.  
_

_"Do you like people?" You asked.  
_

_Tsuna jumped, startled. You could hear the confusion from your spot from under the sakura tree._

_"Huh?! Um, I…” He stuttered and turned around with wide eyes. It took awhile for him to calm down enough so he wasn’t repeating the same handful of syllables over and over. You busied yourself by shaking the dirt of a stem-and-root that came off together._

_Finally, he answered, “No, not really.” In that hesitant way of his, you began to notice he always spoke in, when he expected someone to snap something unpleasant back. Like when a teacher called him over to answer a problem. Tsuna didn’t study enough, or maybe he didn’t get the lessons, but either way, he was always wrong._

_“Everyone’s mean to me.” He said to the ground with his head bowed._

_ (Kids on the hallway’s way to class waiting to push him around.  
Seats filled with ill-natured words and stupid nicknames.  
Pencils and erasers went from his desk and onto someone else’s hands) _

_Yeah, you could understand why he wouldn’t like the ones at school. You nodded. “I don’t like people either.”_

_It was a simple answer to a simple question and a simple opinion. That’s just how you liked to keep things. You didn’t think it needed reasoning, but when you looked up, Tsuna looked confused and asked a vaguely concerned-sounding  ‘Why?’ As if he hadn’t agreed people were not really all that good seconds ago._

_ (Kids whispering, staring and pointing.  
_ _ Awkward glances and responses, excited chatter between themselves.  
Cautious words, white lies, warm feelings, and hopeful smiles-- promises of friendship and exchanged numbers. _

_ Next time. Next week, tomorrow, next summer, tonight--  
Texts and calls filled with long pauses and hurried goodbyes.  
All thrown away from one place to the next. Everyone lied.)  
_

Because no one stays, _you wanted to say._ Because I have to lie to make friends, but it doesn’t matter in the end.

_You wanted to lie to him sometimes too, but decided not too long ago that if there was someone who you wouldn’t lie to, it would be Tsuna. Maybe this time, it’d be different._

_“You are the only one who is...” You paused to think of the right word. Real? Not fake? There was a word for this sort of thing. There must be. It was just one you didn’t know._

_“You’re different,” is what you settled for, before hastily adding “In a good way.” And biting your lip to stop you from saying anything more convoluted._

_Tsunayoshi hadn’t been eager to meet the new kid. He’d been indifferent, worried about bullies and not tripping up on his feet it made him isolated, and that… You could understand that much, at least in a different way. Not belonging anywhere._

_So you reached out, and here you were. He didn’t mind if you didn't talk much sometimes, didn’t fish for curiosity or gossip, or give hurried answers for what you’d like better. He was kind enough to be honest._

You aren’t like that. _Is what you really wanted to say._ Thank you. _Was what you meant._

_"Oh." He didn’t understand you sometimes either, but that was okay too._

_With that, both of you went back to gathering stems and branches that were flexible enough to bend. When the circle looked sturdy enough not to break just by moving it around, you began searching for flowers._

_Tsuna brought daisies and some mostly-intact cherry blossoms from some late-blooming trees in the area, and you found some white clovers after focusing for circle shapes among the repetitive, sleek-gray backdrop of grass blades._

_You taught Tsuna how to thread the fragile stem through the hardy knots. He was horrible at it, but you had nothing if not the time when you were alone like this by yourselves._

_It wasn’t until you were done with his flower crown that you gathered enough courage to pick up where you left off. "Thank you, for,” you began and took a steadying breath, consciously treading word by word just as you fixed some awkwardly bent flower stems poking out of place as you did so. “For being here with me, Tsunayoshi."_

_Silence._

_One, two, three heartbeats later, and then...  
_

_"Y-you’re welcome!” He squeaked back, jerking almost abruptly enough to send the flower crown flying if you hadn’t been holding onto it too. “You... You too, X-X-X!” He said, voice just as pitched as before._

_This time his entire face was glowing brightly alongside a pinched expression. He looked like embarrassment embodied in the form of a round, doe-eyed kid with a bird's nest for hair. Somehow it didn’t look all that bad on him, despite what everyone at the school seemed to think.  
_

_Then an idea came, quick and bright like the flash of a lightbulb, and you put on your best deadpan impression._

_"...Saying 'y-you too' doesn’t sound very honest, Sawada." You teased, feeling the beginning of a smile creeping up on you. You nudged him gently with your elbow._

_Just as expected, Tsuna did that infamous ‘hie’ screech of his, scrambling for a reply looking anywhere, everywhere, but you. You had never actually heard it before, since the two of you always were in different classrooms. It was… Cute? Like the duck toy in your bathtub.  
  
_

_"T-thank you for being with me too! H-here, with me." He said, holding his end of the flower crown so tightly you were vaguely worried it might break._

That’s no good, _you thought_ , I want you to laugh with me too. _  
_

_Laughing, smiling-- all that hasn't been an easy thing for you ever since you can remember, and forcing it right now might hurt Tsuna’s feelings._

_Instead, you decided to give him the best smile you could offer, hoping with all that sudden tightness of your chest that threatened to overwhelm you, that the way your heart felt like it was about to turn into soft cotton and burst at the seams, it all gave you something to smile for._

_"Thank you."_

(For being a good person to me.  
You're nice, even if you aren't that smart, even if you’re really clumsy.  
You're kind, Tsuna. Thank you for that.)

_There were a lot of things you wanted to say but couldn’t, words caught somewhere between your teeth and your tongue but held back by something you couldn’t identify. Were you scared? Were you embarrassed? It shouldn’t matter. Tsuna was your friend. He should know how much of a good friend he was._

_Sometime later you left the park where you hung out at. Your messy, half-hearted attempt at a flower crown was left unfinished where you had stood before joining Tsuna with his, your own daffodils abandoned underneath the sakura tree._

_When you walked Tsuna to his house, you hid behind the fence and watched as Tsuna gave miss Sawada her present. She beamed at him, her expression so openly fond and loving and so, so full of pride it was impossible not to see how moved she was by it._

_There was a pinprick of something heavy cutting at your chest, not unlike the tightness from earlier, but… This feeling was a lot less fun. The other one made you feel happy and light-headed, this one made you feel…_

_Dirty._

_You decided to leave._

* * *

_“I’m home.” You said._

_No one answered back._

* * *

Tuesdays were the days you and Tsuna took off from everything else. Homework that wasn’t due the next day was packed away, video games were untouched and the manga was more often than not left for the evening, right after dinner. You remembered telling him once it was a good exercise, to just relax and take it easy; and because it involved nothing short of laziness, Tsuna wholeheartedly agreed to take a day-long break thereon.

Thus there you sat after school ended, careful fingers tracing the steaming cup Nana filled for you. 

“It sure brings memories, doesn’t it?” she spoke softly, though when you looked up, she was looking at the cup. Whether she expected an answer or not, nostalgia brought a faint smile to your face as you explored it again.

It was always the same one, kept in the same cupboard at the rest, even though it wasn’t terribly difficult to tell it wasn’t part of the matching set she often used. It was smaller, stout, filled with squiggles and doodles of a younger Tsunayoshi and the round, easy-to-read kanji miss Sawada had marked as ‘X-X-X’s’ right next to her son’s wobbly but purposeful, ‘Happy Birthday!’.

Every single week you spotted it laying around somewhere, a well of fondness washed over your senses, leaving you feeling vulnerable, utterly _sentimental_ , but at peace. Like part of their family.

You answered with an equally vague hum of agreement while your eyes wandered around the kitchen- _spotless_ , as usual, but now filled with more knickknacks than before. 

A jar of grape candy by the glass showcase; a thick book of foreign (Italian) recipes hanging by the shelf near the window, a coffee machine by the sink, and the most recent addition: a rack of colorful children’s books near the door to the living room.

"It's been lively here lately." You comment, both unsure how to bring it up anymore subtly, and impatient enough to pry for some answers with her. It's indirect but as close as you can get short of asking Tsuna for the _nth_ time what all the ruckus was about and being weakly (but adamant in a way you didn't expect. He's learning-- and really, you would be proud of this development if it wasn't directed towards _you_ first hand.) pushed away and misdirected.

Nana brightened from her mellow composure, face lighting up immediately at the mention of the Sawada new additions to the household. "It has! Tsu-kun brings a new friend almost every week now." She says, hands clapping once in a rush of energy. 

You nod along and wonder how you're going to maneuver this particular chat. Nana might not be up to date with her son's escapades, but you reason no parents know every excruciating detail, at the very least she would have an answer as to why suddenly these new people with Tsuna flocked around him, other than the obvious answers such as being at class with him every day.

Nana took a big gulp of her tea, seemingly energized after a short reprieve in your conversation. “To tell you the truth, X-X-X-kun, I didn’t expect Reborn-san to take such a shine after Tsu-kun!” she continues, careful in pouring another refill to her cup.

It had all started with that new tutor of Tsuna. First, he was freaking out about a flyer, next he was begging you not to ask too much about it. It wouldn’t be something you would bother about, if anything this would probably be good for your friend, given his short attention span, _‘and yet…’_ came again that prodding in the back of your mind.

You took a sip of tea, lips clamping quickly around the porcelain as the hot liquid lashed at your tongue. _‘It’s still hot. Very, very hot’_  you lowered the cup slowly, watching as her steady hands cupped around the teapot, the damp cloth was forgotten beside the tray. She was humming, just like she always did whenever she was content, excited...

“But look at him now, so full of friends,” she giggled, “Ah, we might need a couple more futons if this keeps up.”

_Nervous..._

You could understand why, with the number of people the Sawada household was harboring on a daily basis, it was nothing short of a miracle how they managed to have this small intermission from the new, loud, norm.

“Tell me, X-X-X-kun,” she placed the teapot down, the cup filled a drop shy from spilling over.

Looking up, you stared at a picture, frame perfect. There sat Miss Sawada, a helpless, sunny smile across her face, hands obscured beneath the table. Were they on top of one another? Or maybe gripping her dress? “How is Tsu-kun doing at school?”

So she didn’t know either, then. It wasn’t a surprise, given how little you saw them talk together, but you assumed they at least had something more substantial than that.

Here, now, you could tell her a number of things. Little white lies to comfort her, or tell her you didn’t know exactly who these people were, either way she’d believe you.

There were only two people you could really talk about, the transfer student, a delinquent who smoked, cussed, and glared at anything with ears and eyes-- and the apathetic baseball star; both who turned over a new leaf over the course of a couple of interactions with Tsuna.

Gokudera's devotion came alarmingly abrupt considering his grandiose entrance of kicking Tsuna's ass straight to the floor. You still haven't forgiven him for that, even if he keeps being guilty every time you make a jab at his back and forth temper back then. He kept babbling something or other about pursuing to be Tsuna's right-hand man and you weren't standing for that, but you needed information about that whole situation first if you wanted to do something more worthwhile than over repetitive emotional manipulation.

Then there was Yamamoto Takeshi, who has never spoken a word to Tsuna even if they had been in the same school twice over, and a bunch of kids Mama Sawada had unofficially adopted. _Just what did you get yourself into, Tsuna?_

When you psych out of your thoughts, one glance at Nana says you have been staring off into space for quite some time now. She was doing the same, a vacant expression on her face, finger tapping the brim of her cup in a gentle, steady rhythm. 

Whatever you tell her, she would believe you. Could you lie for Tsuna?

 _(Yes, always. Never for anyone else.  
_ _(For your best friend, you would lie.)_

“Gokudera-san is eccentric, but he means well.” you begin, considering every word, speaking soft and clear. “Tsuna is his first friend here in Japan, so I get where he’s coming from.” 

‘ _I was there too, once’_ went unspoken. She blinked once, two times-- foggy eyes slowly coming back to earth.

“Yamamoto-san is friendly to everyone. He joined Tsuna during study sessions not that long ago.” you repeated bits and pieces, words light as air, as if you weren’t giving two strangers a free pass to your best friend’s abode. 

 _(You weren’t the one sharing your house,  
_ _Giving them a free meal every day  
_ _A futon to sleep in at night--  
_ _And yet…)_

Her eyes _(finally)_ focused back to catch yours, smiling wide as if a weight lifting from her shoulders. “Don’t worry X-X-X-kun, I’m sure he’ll come around.” she gave a soft sigh, the rapping of her fingers coming to a stop. “You’ll get along with his new friends in no time.” she finishes, not a drop sliding down her cup.

_ (This felt an awful lot like it.  
Why did you have a say in this?) _

“I’m not so sure about that.” you say, looking away.

There’s a whirr, the coffee machine starting to pour, the smell of coffee beans belatedly assaulting your senses.

“Jealousy is unbecoming of a confidant, -X-X-X” Right, _Reborn_.

You want to scoff, sigh, and smile along with the swing of bitterness at the tip of your tongue. _Confidant?_   He hardly tells you anything these days.

You take a long sip of the lukewarm tea instead. There was nothing to discuss with the one who was insistent on taking your best friend away.

“Hmm, _petty_.”

_'Bite me.'_

His lizard licked your cheek.


End file.
